Century 21 UK appoints Eurolink to support ambitious growth strategy

9th September 2015

Century 21 UK has appointed Eurolink as its sole software supplier, reaffirming its position as the agency market’s technology provider of choice.

Veco™, Eurolink’s multi discipline residential property system, will be instrumental in supporting the 49-strong office network’s long term plans to grow to 70-plus offices by the end of the year and 150 offices within a three-year period.

Simon Jackson, chief operating officer and head of surveying at Shepherd Direct, owner of the Century 21 UK licence, says: “We wanted a system that could manage lettings and sales and which had the ability to make agents’ lives easier by automating some of the mundane, repetitive functions.

“It was important to provide a system to free up time for the offices to do what they are best at, which is showing people properties and talking to potential vendors.”

Veco™ allows franchisees to access their property and client data whenever and wherever they are, plus automate labour-intensive tasks, such as rent collection, optimising their ability to hit and exceed their profit targets and support franchisors’ growth strategies.

Shepherd Direct, which comprises four businesses across the property and mortgage markets, acquired the licence to operate the Century 21 brand in the UK in 2013.

Eurolink has worked with the group’s lettings business, Central Lettings Solutions (previously named Direct Lettings), for more than six years.

Century 21 UK is the latest addition to Eurolink’s agency franchise client portfolio, which continues to go from strength to strength due to the way in which Veco™’s flexibility and scalability supports franchisors and franchisees alike.

Jackson says: “Putting a system in, which helps franchisees to generate sales and lettings as easily as possible is very important.

“We can’t just provide people with a brand. We also want to provide access to tools that allow them to do their job better and easier.”

Veco™’s advanced accounting features, which enable franchisees to create transparent audit trails, ensuring they remain compliant with, for example, tenancy deposit collection and accounting, together with the breadth of property experience underpinning the Eurolink team, also explain Shepherd Direct’s decision to appoint Eurolink to help grow its business.

Jackson says: “The Eurolink team has been invaluable. The great thing about them is that they’ve got lots of experience in the industry. They work with independent agents with one or maybe two offices, as well as franchises, and the systems that support those and the legislation in the marketplace.

“They’ve been able to deploy that knowledge for us, and they’ve also been able to think through problems we’ve got that perhaps other firms haven’t come across yet.

“They’ve been really helpful in supporting us to get to where we are, and that’s one of the reasons we went with Eurolink.”

Richard Murray, a director at Eurolink, says: “Veco™ is perfectly designed to support franchisors and franchisees with its vast capabilities.

“The application is unique in its ability to simplify and streamline franchisees’ workloads in line with industry legislation, giving franchisors peace of mind that their offices are helping to operate a compliant and, importantly, profitable business network.”

He adds: “Eurolink prides itself on the extensive property industry knowledge held by each and every one of its team members, who we train to the highest standards to help our valued clients achieve their ambitious growth targets.

“We fully understand the challenges facing ambitious property businesses operating in today’s competitive marketplace, which is why we work tirelessly to evolve Veco™, to help our clients retain and develop their competitive edge.”